Saturday

The first rose of the season!

We're having one of our rare Vancouver sunny day today. I love this time of the year. It's warm and sunny with a nice cool breeze. Every year, I try to take a picture of the poppies. The deep purple in the centre of these poppies are my favourite shade of purple. It's amazing how brilliant this colour is. I was fooling around with the settings on the camera, trying to capture that same brillance. I am not good at this. The resulting photos look so orange-y. It's ok...I have the whole summer to experiment. :)



Right now, I'm sitting out on my deck, picking through a bag of silk noil. It's one of those mindless tasks that you can do anywhere and anytime.

Friday!

Today was not your normal Friday. It was one of the Friday-from-hell type of Fridays. The kind that is usually reserved for when you really REALLY want the day to end so you can go home on time. The only good thing about today is that it's the start of almost a week off for me. Almost a week off because I'm off next week but have to work next Saturday. We've hired a crap-load of staff and were told that we have to be there for the new staff orientation. Bah! Everyone was really busy trying to get things done for next weekend plus we have a show happening as well as all the construction going on. I feel slightly guilty that I won't be there and will show up just for Saturday. Just slightly guilty.


While everyone at work will be running around like crazy, I'm heading to Long Beach on Vancouver Island.

Thankful for:
1. Finally figured out how to convert movies for my ipod.
2. A week off.
3. Dog managed to get outside before throwing up today.

Woohoo! New fibre accessory!

Picked up a new knitting accessory on Friday. It's wonderful! I can use it to keep track of my knitting needles, carry patterns & charts on the go, and all sorts of fun stuff. Found an application that would even keep track of all your knitting projects on the go and acts as a stitch/row counter as well. It's been only 3 days and I can't believe how I ever survived without it!

Oh yeah, it plays music and videos as well. :)



I was all set to get a new phone. Wasn't even thinking of the iphone but the Samsung Omnia. Why? becauase it has a much better camera (5.0 megapixel) than the iphone (2.0 megapixel). Then my sister showed me her ipod touch. That was it...game over. I don't really need the camera and I didn't need a new phone either. I just wanted a new one. The camera on my current phone is still pretty decent. Besides, I have my camera. And I like the idea of not paying huge amounts of money for a data package that I don't really need. The ipod touch will connect to any open network. Lots of areas like that downtown. Free internet means more money that could be better spent on fibre.

And on Ravelry, there is an ipod forum too! Knitters are truly everywhere.

Thankful for:
1. A brother who emails you back late at night with answers to your ipod questions.
2. A sister who is every bit an enabler as my fibre friends.
3. Long weekend Monday.

Part of the knitting green initiative.

It's not like I don't have anything else to use. I have bags and baskets that I use for knitting but I always go back to the good old margarine tub. Everything fits. It keeps my yarn from rolling all over the floor. I could say it's part of my green initiative. yeah.

Things to be thankful for:
1. Sunshine today.
2. Getting my stuff done ahead of time at work so I have time to deal with the changes tomorrow.
3. Long weekend this weekend and that means we get to leave early on Friday.

Nothing much to say today.

Not much to say today...came home, ate dinner, watch tv, knit, pretended to crochet, played WoW. I'm starting to find it odd that I meet nice people when I play lower level characters than my high level ones. I don't know if it says something about the mentality of people who play games. People can be pretty serious in the top levels making sure their toons are decked out in the latest and greatest. I guess a lot of people play the lower alts are for fun and can afford to be more laid back.

Things to be thankful for:
1. Lunch and a much needed chocolate break.
2. Sunny weather in between the rain.
3. My office was not flooded out.

All in all, it was a fairly quiet weekend. Hubby was still feeling sore from his back surgery so we didn't do the usual Mother's Day stuff. We did go to the Joel Plaskett concert Saturday night, however. I was a bit worry how his back would be, sitting in those tiny cramped seats. We bought the tickets ages ago before he got his surgery date. Concert was great!

Here's a tiny horrible picture of Joel Plaskett, taken from my cell phone camera. Not the best picture. I completely forgot to do the settings properly and didn't want to fiddle with it in the dark.



Things that makes me happy:
1. Stopped by Black Sheep Yarns for the yarn sale on the way to the concert.
2. Just so happened to have a ball of yarn and needles in my bag (see #1) so I was able to knit while waiting for the concert to start.
3. Good music.
4. Concert finished (even with all the encores) right before the hockey game ended so we avoided the traffic going home.
5. Next weekend is a long weekend!!

A thought or two...

Sweetgeorgia's post the other day about women artists and how they struggle between a balance of family and art is very interesting. I can honestly say those same thoughts have crossed my mind many times. As much as I would love to spend as much time as possible being creative, I wouldn't give up what I have with my family. I think that's the point of that movie...why should women have to make a choice? It's a question that I've heard many women ask themselves all the time. I don't think there is one right answer. I think it's a balance that we each have to find and come to terms with.

Thankful for:
1. Ugly job to pay the bills so I can afford to play once in while.
2. People like Sweetgeorgia for her honesty and willingness to share herself.
3. Although I call it the Ugly job, it has good moments too. I can't really say it's a dull job.

A spinning mishap

Found a bobbin of merino/silk that I had spun ages ago. Wound it into a ball & plyed it. It was looking pretty good. I have a bad habit of pulling the end a little ways into the yarn so it wouldn't unravel...which I did here. Usually I make the end long enough so I can see where it is to pull out. Didn't do that this time. I took the bobbin off the wheel to wind onto the niddy noddy and the end had disappeared. The worse thing you could do is panic (which I also did) and really messed up the bobbin looking for the end. What am I going to do now? Can this be saved?



I was hoping that leaving it for a day or two would make the end miraculously reappear. No such luck. I thought maybe the bright sunlight would help...nope. Shouldn't have panicked.

Facebook

I've been thinking long and hard whether or not to start a Facebook profile. My sister is on there...so is my niece, my son, pretty much all my cousins, aunts and uncles. Looked up some friends too. It seems harmless enough but I can't seem to bring myself to do it.

It took me a very long time to even mention to real life friends that I blog. Even now, a lot of my friends don't know I blog still or I haven't told them where to find me. Just you fibre folks and that's it.

I think I'm not quite ready yet.

A little change in plans

I really didn't know SweetGeorgia's studio was so very close to where I work. It was very do-able to run over there on a lunch break. Yup. It's such a cool place! There were all these beautiful colours of Cashsilk on a shelf... yes, they're even more brilliant in real life.



I was going to save this for when we go away at the end of May but who was I kidding? There was really no chance this would sit around for a whole month!

The colourway is Blackberry. I started it while I was waiting for my husband in surgery. It was the perfect pattern - easy enough to knit without concentrating too hard and fun enough with the lace to keep my mind busy so I wouldn't worry. As much as I love the Ping yarn, I really needed something to wow me today. The surgery went well and he's staying overnight and should be home tomorrow.

Thankful for:
1. Canadian healthcare & health insurance.
2. Ability to knit.
3. Competent surgeons.

It's been way too long!

One day stretches in the next and before I knew it, months have gone by.

It's now Spring and the planting of the garden has begun.



The kale is actually from last year's planting. They came back this year. Surprised that anything made it through the snow we had. Those snow storms killed off quite a few of our older plants...like my rosemary bush that we planted when we moved into this house. I was very sad to see that it didn't survived.

One thing I've decided is to play less on the computer and do more fibre stuff. Computer games can be addicting. Time spent playing WoW means less time spent doing fibre stuff like dyeing and spinning. I dusted off my spinning wheel this weekend and finally finished Ping, the pygora fibre. It's washed and dried and ready to knit.



I even have the perfect pattern for it...Sweetgeorgia's CashSilk Fern scarf. As much as I've been craving colour lately, I just couldn't bring myself to dye this fibre. I love the different tones of grey in there. Hard to tell in the photo but in the sunshine, you can see all the different tones and I love it! Plus the fact that it's pygora/merino blend makes it super duper soft.

It's not my best spinning but considering how long I've been away from my wheel, I'm surprised I remember how the thing worked. There is something so very soothing about watching the fibre turn into yarn. I think next weekend, if the weather is nice enough, will be spent dyeing.

Thankful for:

1. Warm grass and sunny spot for the dog to sleep on.
2. A fibre stash that makes it easy to satisfy any fibre cravings.
3. Internet for bringing me inspiration when I needed it.

Gung Hai Fat Choi!

It's not really a resolution but I decided this year I was going to try very hard to finish one project at a time and not start anything new until whatever I'm working on is finished.

I started the Kim Hargreave cardigan over the Christmas/New Year break. It was going well. The sweater was supposed to be done in seed stitch but after doing half the back, I didn't like the look. Ripped it back & did only 16 rows of seed stitch for the border. It was much better. The rest of the back took 2 days to finish. I knitted both fronts together. Forgot to mirror the shaping and ripped back. Got to the shoulder shaping and decided the measurements from the pattern would give me a small armhole. I like my sweaters roomy. Ripped back & added a few centimetres to the armhole. Ripped back the back to match the addition to the armhole. Started both sleeves and that went well. Got to the top shaping for the sleeve cap & realized I didn't add any extra length to compensate for the larger armhole. Ripped back & re-knitted the cap. Just about to cast off both sleeves when I re-read the pattern. I'm 20 stitches short at cast on so the sleeves are very narrow. Ripped back to seed stitch band to add stitches as side increases. That's where I'm at now.

So when my son said he wouldn't mind a nice warm scarf to wear, I jumped at the chance to do something else. As much as I love this sweater, I need a break from it. It also meant a trip to Black Sheep Yarns today. Guess what he picked? The same yarn in the same colour as my doomed sweater! I managed to convinced him to go with a different colour finally. The scarf pattern is the Henry scarf on Knitty. I didn't realized (because I didn't read the pattern) that it's knitted lengthwise. That means 452 stithces!

Row 1 is basically knit 1, yarn over all the way across and row 2 is slip 1, knit 1. For some reason, I slipped 1 knitwise instead of purl. I knew it would sit backwards on my needle but thought it would be a good idea. So the next row, I had to turn every second stitch around so it was facing the right way. That's a lot of stithces to turn around. My brain is still on holidays.

It's Chinese New Year here and this weekend was full of family get-togethers with lots of eating rich food. That's my only excuse.

Good fortune to everyone!

Thankful for:
1. Flannel sheets - really love crawling into bed with warm fuzzy sheets.
2. A mom that cooks like nothing you've ever seen!
3. A family that loves anything seafood. Every family gathering is a feast of seafood of some discription.
4. No snow this weekend - the forecast was for "flurries" but it was sunny all weekend.

A White Christmas and then some

I think this year, the weather has been trying very hard to make up for all those green Christmases! I can't remember seeing this much snow in one year before. Love snow but glad I had the past couple of weeks off (and next week as well).

Despite the pain-in-the-butt factor of icy roads and having to shovel the snow, I love it! It appeals to the kid in me. We stayed at home more than we would otherwise. It was really nice to spend quiet evenings cozy at home. Definitely a plus!

This year has gone by so fast! It has been a good and bad year for me. When I look back, most of the "bad" was from work. That's something that I'm thankful for...strange as it sounds.

Son graduated from high school with honours and a couple of scholarships. The Asian part in me played that down but I'm a really proud mom! :D He started university and seems to be doing well. He's healthy and happy...a bit messy but that's a teenager.

Hubby slipped in the snow a few weeks ago & ended up with back problems. He's going to the physio right now. Considering how hard he fell, I'm glad it wasn't worse. Another reason for a quiet Christmas this year. He's not moving around very fast.

Work had been very stressful this past year. I won't go into it again. The new year is not looking any better. For the past couple of months, I've been seriously rethinking my options but have decided to tough it out here. Olympics are coming and the opportunity to be part of it is too much to give up now. I made a decision to stay at least until the end of the Olympics...after that, we'll see. It's easy to look back when you're in a quiet time and think maybe it wasn't so bad. I'm sure reality will slap me in the face when I get back to work. When I get stressed at work, I buy yarn. I predict a lot of yarn buying this year.

Things to be thankful for:
1. Taking an extra week of holidays and actually finding myself relaxed and happy.
2. No one I knew got into any car accidents because of the snow.
3. My family.

And things that makes me happy:
1. Found a box of Halloween chocolate I forgot about.
2. Snow - it has been a beautiful White Christmas.
3. Ten balls of Rowan Felted Tweed to make into a nice soft sweater.

oh Pooh!

It's December 5th already!! I hate it when December sneaks up on me and I'm not ready yet. No homemade fruit cake this year. Just did not have the time. I really should be putting stuff like that on my calendar..."Make Fruitcake - August 20, 2009" "Start advent calendar - Oct 15, 2009"

I don't think I'm alone in my obsession of Advent calendars. I absolutely love them! Especially hand made ones. There's a group on Flickr that shows so many super cool ways you can do an advent calendar.

Things that makes me happy:
1. December
2. Bright shiny Christmas lights
3. Christmas music

WotLK in 2 more sleeps!

Wrath of the Lich King will be out in 2 more days...technically 1 more day as it's past midnight here. It should be interesting with all the problems Blizzard has been having with their updates & patches. They've been running special events to promote the release. Today, the regular maintenance encountered a huge glitch and all the servers were down until late this evening. WoW players from all over were experiencing withdrawl symptoms.

Interesting note to add that, out of 8 people on Ravelry who plays on Moonrunner, 5 has now joined Dropped Bears. Knitters are taking over.


Ah! Some people are just poor party guests!

Things that makes me happy:
1. The ball of KSH slowly turning into a lighter-than-air scarf.
2. Tomorrow is Wednesday...much better than if it was Monday.
3. Leftover Halloween chocolates.

It's Monday!

This past year has been very busy and very very rough for me, work-wise. I can't see things changing until well into 2010 or later. It may never get better. Overall, I do enjoy what I do. I can deal with stress but not to the point where I'm working 6 days a week or more on a regular basis. I never manage to take enough time off to compensate...there's always something else looming up around the corner. Everyone at work are in the same situation. Last week, people were walking around looking white with stress.

I took three weeks off in the summer. During my time off, I was called regularly 2-3 times a day or more. Honestly, I didn't mind because I was so damm grateful just to have three weeks off in a row. That is really sad. I've been seriously thinking about my options.

Anyhow, on to cheerier things. I have today off, it's not raining (in fact, the sun just came out), and no one else is home. Just me, the dog, and a whole lot of fibre stuff to do. When faced with all the possibilities of how to fill my day today, I'm overwhelmed. I'm going to go finish my coffee and take the dog out for a stroll and see what I feel like at that point.

I noticed I've stopped doing a Thankful for list. I don't know why...it just happened. I think with everything at work, it has been affecting me in my Real Life more than I thought. I've been grumpy for way too long and it's wrong.

So, to revive and revise a good thing, I'm going to make it my Things that makes me happy list...

Things that makes me happy:
1. Sunshine peeking out from rain clouds.
2. A ball of pale, pale lavender Kidsilk Haze sitting on my desk.
3. A dog waiting by the door because I said the W-A-L-K word.

Optim Merino Handspun - Hyacinth

Date started: can't remember ~ 4 weeks ago
Finished Date: Oct 5/08
Fibre: Optim Merion - 100% wool - dyed by Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks
4 oz - 270m

I love working with the Optim Merino. The fibre spun up very nice and smooth. I did noticed as I was spinning that there was still a faint smell of vinegar on the fibre. There were also bits of second cuts in the roving but they were easy enough to pick out. The yarn is very soft to the touch. There should be enough yardage for a scarf or a pair of mittens. I love the sheen on the yarn.



Hmmm...I'm beginning to notice that I have a lot of yarn in the purple tones.

Clapotis Revisited

Start date: Sept 1/08
Finished date: Sept 15/08
Yarn: 3 x Silk Garden Sock Yarn #S252 Lot A (Blue/Green/Yellow)
Pattern: Clapotis

As much as I love Noro, I absolutely hate all the knots in their yarn. I have yet to use 1 one of Noro without knots. Every single one of these balls had at least 1 knot. One ball had 5 knots!!!

Other than the knots, I love the Silk Garden sock yarn. I would NOT recommend it for socks, though. Even with the high nylon content (25%) I would really be doubtful of using this yarn for socks. Some bits were really thick and some thin bits were really thin. It would make a very uneven sock and would not wear well. I love the way the colours flow from one to the next and the thick/thin-ness of the yarn for the shawl. For the Clapotis, it was perfect! I would consider using this yarn for a light sweater.

I wanted this to be more of a shawl than a scarf so I added extra repeats. I didn't bother counting the repeats. Knit until it looked wide enough, knit the body until it was long enough, and start the decreases to finish.

It was such a nice warm day today that I thought I would leave it outside to dry as it's blocking. A quick wash on gentle cycle in the washing machine after work today and masses of pins and the job is done. I was a bit apprehensive about the washing machine part but it turned out well. As long as the dog doesn't try sleeping on top of it, it should be dried in a couple of hours.

No such thing as too many bags!

Last February I went on a hunt for the Nameste Laguna bag. I wanted the lime green one. Lime green to match my lime green shoes. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it was on back order. The colour was so poplular the bags would sell out immediately. The store I was going to order it from had no idea when they would get more. They would add me to the waiting list and let me know when it's my turn.

Months went by and I forgot all about the bag...until I walked into Black Sheep Yarns, a new LYS that just opened a few weeks ago. They sell Nameste bags and I promptly ordered one...in Olive Green. After looking at them again, I think the olive would be a better choice if I'm dragging this thing on trains & busses. The bag came today and I love it!



It's not Lime green but it matches my shoes better! The bag really does have room for EVERYTHING!

Husband: How many bags do you need?
My answer: One more than I already have.

My Summer Vacation (so far)

I think it's time for an update...what have I been doing?

1. Dyeing. Lots of it. Mostly silk fibres that I have kicking around for eons. The weather has been nice the first week I had time so it seemed like a good idea. I look at it as stocking up for winter spinning.

2. My BFL came in the mail. I knew it would show up the day after the Twisted met up. Yup, it did. I got my weeks mixed up & thought we weren't meeting up last Wednesday but it was this Wednesday that everyone is away. Sorry ladies, you'll have to wait to get your fibre.
It's so tempting to throw all this into a dyepot and go wild. BTW, it's not all mine. The big bag is mine...5 lbs.

3. Knitting Olympics. Well, this year's Knitting Olympic was less than stellar for me. It was a rough start with me getting my dates mixed up. The yarn was spun up and ready to go when I discovered I misplaced the magazine with the pattern. I ended up winging it which wasn't difficult. The Ribwarmer vest is pretty basic. The problem was that I didn't start knitting until Monday. The Monday in the SECOND week of the games. Oooo! I was cocky! Should be no problem. Then I got distracted by sushi and lunches and fun outings and dye project and other stuff. It's almost done but close enough doesn't win medals. It's going to be hit & miss if I have enough yarn to finish the vest.

4. Played WoW...a lot. My druid is a smidgeon away from level 70. I never thought I would ever get this far when I started playing. It's been fun. You get to level up crafting professions like cooking, fishing, first aid, etc. It's quite an amazing game. I'm not sure what I'm going to do at 70 though. At 70, a whole new game world opens up. I can start playing the high level instances that the BIG BOYS play. You start playing with people who takes the game much more seriously than I do. Ack!

I've been thinking that I might hold off hitting 70 for a little while longer. You get bumped up to the next level of battlegrounds and it's going to be harder going up against other level 70 with their purple epic gear. At 69, I'm at the top of the heap right now. This way, I can get a bit more honour points before hitting 70.

I've also been busy leveling up alts. One of my favourite is the little Gnome Rogue. She's going to be my battleground pro. :D She is such a cutie pie!

Franzenstein, if you're reading this, those are your legs sticking out in the snow.


And it doesn't help that Ravelry has a WoW guild too. Of course I had to start a toon (or two) to play with the Ravelry knitters.

So that pretty much sums up my first two weeks of vacation. Much better than camping in someone's field.